How climate change is contributing to Egyptian protests

Most major political shifts are caused at least in part by economic pressures. Food prices are now at an all-time high. Those prices have, according to a wide range of analysts, contributed to the political revolts first in Tunisia and now in Egypt.

According to The Atlantic, food prices put especial pressure on the politically powerful Egyptian middle class, who have had to devote more and more of their paychecks to simply staying alive. This graph makes the point pretty clearly:

But here’s the kicker: Food prices aren’t just some arbitrary economic statistic. They measure (inversely) the planet’s success at sustaining its human population. And right now, it’s not doing so well. The reason? Erratic weather spurred by climate change.

Don’t take my word for it. Find the connection spelled out on NPR and in the New York Times. Agriculture has developed over millennia based on our knowledge of how the weather behaves in a given region. When those assumptions prove false, crops fail, food prices go up, people get hungry and blame their leaders.

Who knows, Egypt may get real democracy out of this uprising. But it’s also possible that Muslim fundamentalists will rise to power like they did in Iran after the Shah’s overthrow. Political instability in regions as volatile as the Middle East is not just a humanitarian disaster waiting to happen; it’s a threat to our national interests. Which means acting to control climate change is, too.